Jan. 4, 2013
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Sometimes Dr. Dot massages Lady Gaga's sore feet. / Evan Agostini, AP

by Craig Wilson, USA TODAY

by Craig Wilson, USA TODAY

Dr. Dot knows her way around. The bodies of A-list celebrities, that is. Want a tour?

She'll tell you how she bites Bruce Willis' back ("It's not boring") and that Lady Gaga's feet hurt. As for Courtney Love, well, anything goes. Hardly a surprise.

And one TV star loves a warm chocolate massage in the winter, but more on her later.

"They all love me," she says. "They don't mind my talking. They know I'm not going to throw them under the bus."

Just the opposite. They know their bodies are going under her two strong hands.

Dr. Dot has been masseuse to the stars for almost 30 years now, starting out in 1983 as a "pioneer," rubbing sore celebrity shoulders backstage for one reason alone: "Just to see the shows." Think of her as the ultimate groupie, minus the sexual favors.

She began pursuing her craft at age 5, when her hippie parents taught her massage techniques; formal training followed. She never charged until Rolling Stone drummer Charlie Watts told her she was nuts.

"He insisted he pay," says Dr. Dot, who is officially known as Dot Stein. She now has her own website, some 700 employees called "Dotbots" who work their magic around the world, and a book about her soothing ways in the works.

Where Stein, 45, works her magic depends on what the stars do. She has spent hours on Aerosmith's Steven Tyler's lips, for instance.

"When he goes out on stage, he's singing for two or three hours," she says. "There are lots of muscles in the mouth. My massaging his lips make them looser."

She says she pinches his lips firmly ("It feels very good, really!"), and the bigger the lips, the longer the massage. Tyler's take about half an hour.

"There's really a large landscape there (on those lips)," she says, adding that Tyler suffers from massage ADD. "He jumps off the table and runs!"

For her guitar-playing clients, "I spend more time on their arms, their hands and forearms."

Best celebrity bodies? According to Dr. Dot's website, it's Lauryn Hill for the women. "She likes the spider method, where I walk up her back with my fingers." Singers Sting/Roger Daltrey tied for men.

She also has a wish list for those who have not yet come under her hands: Madonna, Jude Law and Jennifer Lopez, among others.

And that mean Simon Cowell, infamous judge on American Idol and The X Factor? It's not true he's mean at all. "He's the nicest, most generous client I have. He flies me to London for a massage. If people say he's mean, they don't know him."

Rates depend a lot on what's requested. And when. An hour with one of her "Dotbots" (who include massage therapists, chiropractors, acupuncturists and yoga teachers) run about $150 and rates rise to $250 after midnight. Kanye West got a massage once at 4 a.m: $400. "The prices just go up as the night gets later."

As for her clients, they couldn't be happier, or at least according to the testimonials left on her website.

"If I could, I would have you massage me every day, all day. You rock!" Love writes. Sting simply says Stein gives "the best massages in the world," and Gene Simmons of Kiss likes the idea that Dot doesn't talk.

Stein and her staff are not for wimps, she warns.

"We do special deep tissue massage. We are the pitbulls of massage. It's a waste of money to come to me, or us, for a Swedish massage. We like our people to speak up. 'Hello! I can't feel you!' "

Asked if she has ever been intimidated by anyone, she says not really, although it was "amazing" to be in Paul McCartney's presence. "But it's hard to freak me out."

Courtney Love, for instance.

"Oh, my God. Some people when you meet them, they're nothing like their persona, but she's exactly the same, only crazier," says Stein with a laugh. "She's got amazing arches. She does not hold back at all. I've given her three massages in one day. She's really, really into it. I love her because she's so outspoken."

As for Gaga, "she likes to have her feet done. Loves to have her feet done, and who can blame her with those shoes?" says Stein. "We even massage her on her music video sets at 4 in the morning."

For the winter months, Stein suggests the warm chocolate massage, which she has given to Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria.

"It's warm chocolate drizzled over the body and massaged into the skin," she says. "It smells as good as it feels."

It's not a summer thing, however. "People don't want warm chocolate on them in the summer."